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Nike has gone the content marketing route by creating an original web series to get more women into fitness (and buying its shoes).

As SVOD platforms like Netflix have proved, we all love web series. So much that we can waste a whole weekend watching episode after episode as that sneaky autoplay function makes us go “Oh, one more can’t hurt.”

Nike is attempting to capitalise on this by releasing it’s own series called Margot vs Lily to be released on 1 February with weekly episodes.

The series is about two sisters: one (Lily) an optimistic fitness freak, the other (Margot) a sarcastic, snack-eating couch potato, after they test each other with the ultimate challenge. Margot has to start a fitness channel and get 1,000 subscribers, and Lily has to make three real friends.

The budget looks high, and the production pretty good, so maybe it just might work. In the trailer, text appears reading “An original Nike series” which seems like a bit of a cheeky reference to Netflix.

In 2014 another brand gave this a crack, though one that you wouldn’t really expect to create a web series, this was Canada-based Milk West, a dairy partnership consisting of Alberta Milk, BC Dairy Association, Dairy Farmers of Manitoba and SaskMilk via DDB.

Called Snack Time and featuring a trio of traditional snacks in awkward scenes, the campaign takes the form of a web series that is intermittently updated with new videos.

The videos featured the crudely animated protagonists participating in conversations that were seemingly disengaged from the issues at hand.

Jason Brandes, the market development director and spokesperson for Milk West, told Canadian publication Profectio that the campaign was targeted at increasing milk consumption among teens.

“Teens are a tough segment and finding a natural place to engage with them is challenging," he said in the article. "They expect more from marketers than previous generations and spend less time with traditional media. The Snack Time web series creates a relevant platform for milk to connect with teens on an ongoing basis by serving them fresh, engaging content that they are already seeking.”

Burrito chain Chipotle also gave it a go launching a satirical scripted comedy show on Hulu “attacking the evil ogre of industrial farming”, according to Adweek.

Paspaley Pearls treaded a similar track last year when it teamed up with Special group for ‘Behind the Lens’, a 10-minute fictitious short film, directed by Cannes Festival-winning director Ariel Kleiman starring British actress Clara Paget.

The film focused on the mysterious events that happen behind the scenes on a Paspaley fashion shoot in the Kimberley, the region where Paspaley has been cultivating pearls for more than 80 years.

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